Cat Stevens – Mona Bone Jakon Guitar Lesson Info
Learn how to play Cat Stevens – Mona Bone Jakon note-for-note on guitar with our Cat Stevens – Mona Bone Jakon Guitar Lesson.
This lesson looks at Mona Bone Jakon as Cat Stevens plays it on the original recording — a deceptively simple song where almost everything comes down to right-hand control.Although this is officially a strummed song and it is played with a pick, the pick rarely sweeps across all six strings. Instead, the strumming is tight, wrist-driven, and highly selective, brushing only the strings needed at any given moment. The chords themselves are straightforward, but the feel of the song depends on keeping the pick movement compact and controlled rather than loose or exaggerated.
In the lesson, we focus on:
-The underlying strumming feel and how to keep it relaxed but precise
-Controlling the pick so it suggests a strum rather than blasting through the strings
-Where the accents fall and how they shape the groove
-Keeping the accompaniment supportive and understated, in the spirit of the original recording
This is a great example of a Cat Stevens song that looks easy on paper but rewards careful attention to touch and timing. It’s not about complexity — it’s about restraint.
As always, the lesson includes a full video breakdown, tab, and chord/lyric sheet to help you get the feel right without overthinking it.
- Difficulty level: Intermediate
- Barre chords: No
- Thumb over chords: No
- Playing Style: Strummed with picked bass notes
- Tuning: Standard
- Separate Solo: No
- Separate Bass Part: No
Return to Individual Songs page
Cat Stevens – Mona Bone Jakon Download Details
The complete lesson contains a lesson video and a performance-standard play-thru video. It also contains the guitar tabs as PDF files and a songsheet with the chords and the lyrics of the lesson (if applicable), also as PDF files.
The videos are MP4 format and will play on PC’s, Macs and most mobile devices.
You’ll receive an email with a Zip file containing a total of 4 files as follows:
- Part 1: Guitar Video Lesson
- Part 2: Performance-standard Playthru Video
- Part 3: Songsheet with tabs & lyrics
- Part 4: Guitar Tab
Total Download size: 189.9 Mb
You’ll need to extract the MP4 and PDF files from the Zip file/s to be able to use them and you’ll need software to do so. If you don’t have a Zip program on your PC you’ll need to install one to open the file. I use Peazip which you can get free, here.
If you want to download to an iPad or iPhone you’ll need an app to do so, please read here to know more about it.
Cat Stevens – Mona Bone Jakon Lesson Previews
Playthru & Intro
Tab Preview
Chords & Songsheet Preview
Return to Individual Songs page
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